Inter-Services Intelligence

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Here is a cut and paste email
message sent to staffers at The News,
in Islamabad. We have their explicit permission to use it. Actually, they
requested that we use it, in the hope that publicizing it will somehow protect
them.

In case there was any doubt about the stance of Pakistani
authorities on the murder of journalists, UNESCO's 28th
biennial session offered an instructive insight. In addition to discussing
the U.N.
Draft Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity
during the meeting, held in Paris in March, member states were to report on
judicial inquiries into the killings of journalists from 2006 to 2009. Pakistan
was among 17 countries that did not respond to the request. It was also one of
three countries that refused to discuss the UNESCO draft, intended to take legislative
measures to combat attacks on the press. This was a reflection of our sad state
of affairs.

In Pakistan, the term "a war of words" can take on a
menacing dimension beyond the metaphorical. Words--written, spoken, or
reported--regularly land journalists in trouble, a very literal, physical
sort of trouble. Reporters have become accustomed to being threatened, and over
the years they've seen threats sometimes build to abductions, beatings, and
even death. Such violence seldom comes without a string of prior warnings.

As journalists continue to be targeted, the government of Asif Ali Zardari has shown itself unable and unwilling to stand up for a free press. Whatever solutions exist will have to be found by people in the profession. By Bob Dietz

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Geo TV's most prominent television anchor, and one of the
most prominent journalists in Pakistan, has just circulated a detailed email
message of threats he has been receiving. Hamid Mir's open, public response to
the threats is a textbook case of how to handle the steady stream of
intimidation that journalists face, not just in Pakistan but in other parts of
the world as well. His entire message is reproduced at the end of this post.

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New York, July 5, 2011--Pakistan's president must clarify the role of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence Directorate following U.S. allegations that the agency ordered the killing of journalist Saleem Shahzad, as reported in The New York Times today, said the Committee to Protect Journalists.

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Just a few pointers to the angry discussion that is going on
among Pakistan's
journalists about the killing of Saleem Shahzad. The Inter Services
Intelligence Directorate (ISI) seems to have emerged as the prime target of
accusation, but it has rejected claims of any involvement.

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CPJ has always been careful to avoid making accusations when
journalists are abducted or killed in Pakistan. Our tactic is to call for full
investigations either by the police, the courts or special investigative
bodies. In many such cases, the local journalists' community blames
government security agencies, including the powerful Inter
Services Intelligence group (ISI), as we noted
a few days ago in an alert. Umar Cheema, who was abducted and humiliated
over the weekend of September 4 and 5 near Islamabad, has specifically accused
the ISI of being involved in his case and has stuck with those accusations.

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New York, October 25, 2010--Pakistan must take immediate steps to rein in police and government agencies that threaten reporters. Two cases in recent days--those of journalists Hafiz Imran and Umar Cheema--demonstrate how reporting on stories that are critical of the authorities can bring officials' wrath down on reporters.